News from across the College

The commitment to research that exists within Economics has been underlined by the results of the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 exercise, with the Department ranked 6th out of 28 institutions on research intensity.

Professor Russell Mannion is a co-author of a new NIHR report exploring the interface between hospital services and children's social care. The study was led by Professor Sue White in School of Social Policy, Institute of Applied Social Studies.

Moseley and Kings Heath Labour Party supported by Unite, the Union, brought together around 100 local people and community activists with a panel of experts, including HSMC's Professor Jon Glasby, to discuss what we should do next to improve our NHS, locally and nationally.

A project team at the School of Education, has recently been awarded approximately £500,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID) to investigate ways to improve the early childhood curriculum and teaching methods of pre-school carers and to increase the quality of early childhood development and education provision for young children with disabilities in Malawi.

Written by Chris Game is a Visiting Lecturer at INLOGOV. Of all the reactions to Northamptonshire County Council's controversial 'Next Generation Model' – abandoning service provision in favour of outsourcing everything to 'specialist social enterprises' – few can have been as measured and dispassionate as my colleague Ian Briggs' reflections on the merits or otherwise of Public Interest Companies (PICs).